Barça beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in the last test before the start of the league. In the battle for the Catalans’ “Trofeo Joan Gamper”, the Blaugrana, who were struggling at the back, turned things around late on thanks to their jokers.
Xavi’s FC Barcelona started a little surprisingly with Garcia for Christensen, who was initially out, as was Gündogan. In his place, de Jong started and Gavi played up front on the left. Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou did not include Kane, who was being courted by FC Bayern, in the squad, and other well-known players such as Romero, Maddison, Höjbjerg and Kulusevski were also absent. Instead, Perisic and Richarlison, for example, started up front.
Lewandowski is on target early
Barça started in style and took the lead straight away: Raphinha made Sanchez look old and crossed smoothly to Lewandowski, who volleyed in ice-coldly (3rd). The assistant had the chance to make it 2:0 a little later, but missed (5.).
The Spurs were getting more and more comfortable in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, the FCB was getting busy at the back. Apart from a Sanchez header, which did not pose any problems for ter Stegen (14th), little happened – then Skipp struck: The six-pointer dusted off Lo Celso’s goal against the post (24th).
Skipp punishes Barça’s gaps – Araujo has to go out
While Xavi’s team failed to find Spurs keeper Vicario (19. Lewandowski, 27. Raphinha) or, like de Jong, took too long for a decision (20.), the North Londoners remained ice-cold: Skipp nodded in from close range, the home side’s defence had again not looked good (36.). The intense first half did not end well for Barça, also because Araujo had to go down injured (32.).
After the break, Barcelona got better again, but lacked timing with their passes. At the back, Xavi’s team looked improved, but because Garcia had stayed too far away, Richarlison was allowed to take an easy shot, but it went just over the bar (54th). On the opposite side Pedri missed (58.).
Ter Stegen saves – Gündogan directs
Ter Stegen’s save from Pedro Porro (59.) was followed by numerous substitutions, with the German international keeper also going off and Gündogan on the pitch at times in his place. The 2023 Footballer of the Year was immediately well involved in the match scenes.
Yamal & Co. turn up
It was not until the substitution of the 16-year-old Yamal (80th) that Barça turned their superiority into goals again: First, the talent set up Ferran Torres’ equaliser (81st), then he set up the late goals by Ansu Fati (90th) and Abde (ein). So the FCB offensive jokers scored, Fermin also set up a goal alongside Ferran Torres.
This was FC Barcelona’s 46th Gamper Trophy win, even if they initially had their problems with Spurs’ B eleven. Xavi’s side kick off La Liga at Getafe FC on Sunday (9.30pm). Tottenham face Brentford FC from 3pm in their Premier League opener.
